I disagree. I think the riots are THE story. When we talk about democracy in the Muslim world, we are likely to get something very bad. The war in in Iraq is going to end someday, for good or ill. But the dysfunctional mentality in the Muslim world is going to last well beyond the Iraq war.
Sorry, but I just can't get that upset at Newsweek. The media has been largely left wing for decades and has written worse things than this that did not see the response we are seeing now. I blame the Muslims 100%. Part of life is putting up with things we don't like to hear. As long as Muslims do not understand this, the world is in for tough times.
I'm sorry, I just respectfully disagree.
We know the enemy outside. We'd better get to know the enemy within if we have any hope of winning this war.
Maybe I just don't think all Muslims are represented by the fanatics that rioted - maybe I'm naive, but I guess if I am, then so are all the others in our government and military who are working with the Iraqis and other Muslims to bring democracy to the Middle East and to bring a people out of the dark ages.
If we believe all Muslims are like the ones who rioted, then why are we in Iraq? Isn't it a lost cause from the get go if we think all Muslims are fanatics? And how many Iraqis rioted? The Bush administration is trying to show respect for the Muslim faith NOT for the benefit of the fanatics, but for the benefit of the ones who are not lost to fanaticism - ones we are working with. We are trying to win the respect and hearts and minds of the ones who are not lost to fanaticism.
We are in Iraq because there is a belief in the Bush administration that the more moderate Muslims can be brought, through democracy and freedom, at least out of the dark ages and into a civilized society where the more extreme and fanatic aspects of the Muslim religion are diminished. Rumsfield said yesterday that the more moderate elements of the Muslim faith are growing - I hope he's right. Bush has always felt that the God-given yearning of the human spirit to be free will prevail in the human heart , and that through freedom and democracy, more of the fanaticism will die out. Will this work? Who knows in the end. But if it does, it can transform the Middle East.
I still remember the Iraqi elections - the young woman with a veil over her face, a tear in her eye and proudly holding up an ink-stained finger. I remember the old man who had to be carried to the polls to cast his first vote. I remember the young woman at the inauguration embracing the mother of the young deceased soldier.
Bringing a people from the dark ages into the 21st century is a monumental task - one step forward, two steps back. Bush and our military have worked so hard to win over the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, and it appears to me, have had success. It's a slow arduous process, but if the majority of Muslims can be brought out of the dark ages into some semblance of democracy and a civilized existence, the we are all the better for it. And when a major news publication totally undercuts these efforts, I am sorry, it is a very big deal and bigger to me than any fanatics rioting. The damage done is incalculable - if in the end winning this war depends on winning hearts and minds, then this Newsweak article was devastating to our efforts.